State Democrats choose new leader Lon Johnson as Mark Brewer bows out of race

Feb. 23, 2013

Mark Brewer, left, Lon Johnson / Detroit Free Press file photo

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

After 18 years as chairman of the state Democratic Party, it was over in a moment Saturday for Mark Brewer.

"I've had a great 18 years as chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, and I've enjoyed working with all of you," Brewer said minutes after the business of the convention began. "But I'm withdrawing my candidacy for chairman."

Almost immediately, more than 3,600 Democratic delegates attending the party's state convention at Cobo Center in Detroit unanimously elected by acclimation Kalkaska Democrat Lon Johnson as the party's next chairman.

"I know this has been a spirited campaign, but we've always admired what (Brewer) has done for our party," Johnson said. "We must stand together, because it's the only way to win."

The sea change at the top of the state party represents a shift from the old-time politics that Brewer grew up with, starting in Macomb County, to the digital era that Johnson, who is married to Julianna Smoot, deputy campaign director for President Barack Obama, represents.

After his election, Johnson asked the delegates to take out their smartphones, take a picture and post it on Facebook and Twitter with the #ThisisMichigan hashtag.

Johnson, 41, is known as an effective fund-raiser and part of a new generation of Democratic leaders. He narrowly lost a race for state House in November in a highly Republican, northern Michigan district.

He had a wide range of support from the powerful -- UAW and Teamsters and Michigan's Democratic congressional delegation in Washington -- and the grassroots communities of young Democrats, the LGBT community and many of the African-American caucuses.

Brewer's base of support among local party leaders, the teachers' organizations and several other large unions wasn't enough to stop Johnson's momentum.

Although Johnson has only officially been in the race for chairman for about a month, the efforts behind the scenes to get rid of Brewer have been going on for several months. Members of the congressional delegation and the UAW have been unhappy with Brewer for a while; even though Democrats won the presidency, U.S. Senate and five state House seats in November, there was consistent discontent about a lack of Democratic success in other state races.

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The disastrous and losing Proposal 2 campaign -- which would have enshrined collective-bargaining rights in the state's constitution -- resulted in passage of right-to-work laws in the lame-duck session in December that only exacerbated the discontent in the party.

Even though Prop 2 was more of a labor than Democratic Party effort, the die was cast against Brewer, who tried to portray Johnson as a carpetbagger who couldn't even bother to vote in many elections. The tactic didn't work, and as the convention delegates gathered Saturday, many clad in Johnson T-shirts and stickers, it became clear that Brewer was beaten.

But it wasn't a pretty or easy journey.

A nasty credentials fight Friday night went Johnson's way, but it burst into a heated exchange Saturday between U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who supported Johnson, and Macomb County Democratic Party Chairman Ed Bruley, who supported Brewer.

Levin accused the Brewer camp of lying, and Bruley said the UAW was muscling its way into sustained power by rigging the rules.

"It's not fair when a major organization wants to dominate so heavily that they change the rules because they have the votes at a particular meeting," Bruley said.